PHILIPPINES : HP LAUNCHES INTENSE FIGHT AGAINST COUNTERFEIT

[Anonymous]

PHILIPPINES : HP LAUNCHES INTENSE FIGHT AGAINST COUNTERFEIT TONER AND INKS

HP, BSP join hands to fight fakes
Technology giant HP Philippines and the country’s monetary authority Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas teamed up to launch the campaign that is set to fight the production and proliferation of fakes.Entitled ‘No to Fakes, Know the Original’, the advocacy aims to create public awareness against counterfeits according to HP."The campaign seeks to raise public awareness and commitment to stop the proliferation of counterfeits, including frequently counterfeited items such as banknotes (Peso bills) and original HP ink cartridges and toners," HP said.

This dynamic duo plans to unleash a barrage of events and actions in the upcoming weeks and months to further enhance the public’s consciousness about what’s real and what’s not as well as instill in them the knowledge that fakes aren’t actually doing any good for the society.Armando Pascual, HP Imaging and Printing Group Country General Manager, told Malaya Business Insight that the advocacy emerged due to the increasing number of counterfeited products coming from the country recently.

HP has reportedly seized 22,000 fake ink cartridges and P21 million worth of toners during this year alone through the help of the National Bureau of Investigation."We felt that there’s really a need to escalate our campaign to create awareness in the market because nowadays it’s easy for consumers to fall victim when they buy products (in which) they are not aware that it’s counterfeit," Pascual said.Pascual said that consumers who buy fake products most often end up in the losing end of the bargain.True enough, counterfeits might look appealing with its cheap prices, but does not match up well to quality and durability when compared to the original ones.Pascual noted that as in the case of HP, counterfeited inks don’t produce as much pages and don’t have much quality as compared to the genuine product.

HP cited a recent ink cartridge reliability study noting that original HP inks have been proven to outperform refilled inkjet cartridges based on reliability as well as page yields.The campaign also seeks to not only educate individuals but businesses as well by showing the economic risks of counterfeited goods which unfortunately includes billions of pesos in annual losses.In addition, HP said that the campaign hopes to help the Philippines be removed from the United States’ blacklist of countries tolerating intellectual piracy and counterfeits.HP already indicated that it has already introduced a genuine security seal feature on its original HP ink cartridges and toners, while BSP has also initiated several security features in its new generation Philippine banknotes for authenticity purposes.

Pascual said that joining hands with a big agency like the BSP is a perfect opportunity to further promote the advocacy."By partnering with BSP, we’re able to create much wider awareness with no to fakes campaign," Pascual said.Quite frankly, HP and BSP do indeed look like a formidable tandem to be reckoned with.Pascual added that HP looks forward into partnering with other major companies and agencies in the country in the future for the "No to Fakes" campaign but is at present focusing on their partnership with BSP.

HP hopes that the campaign will be able to inspire consumers and establishments on making a commitment to stop patronizing fake products, and instead support the original ones."We are very happy to take this first step to make people aware and educate them on what’s real and what’s not," Pascual said.HP is a worldwide technology company that provides products and services for printing, personal computing, software, and IT Infrastructure.

[Author]

August 4, 2011 at 8:54 AM